Barry’s Caravan of Garbage Pt1
12th December 2024
Barry
6 mins
I’ve missed out on my routine Wednesday X-Wing games lately and I’ve been keen to get back into it. Whilst Rosco is enjoying XWA points everyone here is trying to get their practice games in for CanCon GT using the AMG points so it’s time to go back into the junk pile of unrealised lists in my squad builder.
Whilst I have a list for the GT, though as has been previously explained I don’t really take practice seriously. I’m not a serious person.
Switching back to AMG points does require some recalibration (most likely of my expectations) and as has been previously demonstrated I’m looking to be as annoying but not derivative. I’m first foremost a Scum and Villainy kinda guy, and they didn’t get a lot of play in AMG’s last points updates where Standard Loadouts offered better value. In that terrain Scum kind of presented as a jack-of-all trades and master of none.
Having played XWA points more recently I revisited the AMG points with a different (or perhaps mistaken) mindset.
Ops Brief
Situation:
Factions: Scum (me) vs. Imperial (Travis)
Location & Objective: Deep Space - Chance Encounter
Ruleset: AMG
Order of Battle (ORBAT):
Me – Leema Kai/Arliz /zBossk/N’Dru /Doctor Aphra/Lapin (View in YASB)
Travis – Maarek (SL)/Vult Skerris (Defender)/Captain Feroph /2x Obsidian Squadron (View in YASB)
Conduct
As always, I don’t have a plan per se - just some ships I haven’t used in a while and want to put on the table. Luckily for me my pseudo X-Wing coach and mentor Chiew does – having looked at the list and given it his blessing of sorts. Travis is also back on the scene having suffered a horrific dodge-ball accident (no really the photos are horrific) and he’s fielding out his GT list options which probably doesn’t bode well for my trash pile…
Setup and already out of position…
After Action Report
Round 1: Noticing that both Vult and Maarek have deployed on what is probably my weakest flank, I make try to slow roll for some time on that side whilst the two Y-Wings look for where Feroph is going. Aphra triggers Gamut Key to hold onto her forward reinforce token. Score: 0-0
End of Round 1/Start of Round 2 (before setting dials).
Round 2: I make a rookie mistake on two fronts. Firstly, I believed Travis when he told me he couldn’t K-Turn the Defender and secondly I commit Aphra down the alley between the obstacles. I haven’t flown a YV-666 in a while but you never…ever…commit to an alley. Lapin slams forward to face check Feroph and the Y’s aim for shots on the TIE for a damage. Between concentrated fire of Maarek and Vult, N’Dru loses a shield and exchanges one with Vult. Score: 1-1
Cooked.
Round 3: Needing more guns on target I deploy Bossk.
The TIEs move in to block Aphra in the alley, and Feroph has rolled to the other side of the rock and somehow not clipped the rock in the effort.
Aiming to block Vult or Maarek for him, N’Dru throws caution to the wind and banks. Vult K-Turns and promptly removes N’Dru from play leaving Maarek with no target thankfully.
Bossk whiffs. Aphra whiffs. Arliz scores some hits on Feroph but not enough for half yet.
Round 3: Feeling less confident.
Blocked in the alley, Aphra has no choice but to give up half points as she gets absolutely smashed by Feroph and the TIEs escaping the round with 3 hull remaining. Arliz keeps firing off cluster missiles with decent hits but it’s not making enough of an impact to chase the lost points.
Score: 2-7
Round 4: Between a rock and a hard place…with TIEs.
Round 4: The TIEs continue to hold Aphra in place whilst Lapin comes about triggering Marg Sabl Closure onto one of the TIEs. Feroph doesn’t move and Arliz lands on a rock deciding to Genius a concussion bomb to score some half points on Feroph whilst conceding points for Arliz.
Maarek swings behind Aphra and despite it all she holds on by 1 hull. TIEs concede half points and with the objectives scored the points close a little but still not enough.
Score: 5-10
End of Round 5 and the board has been cleared out.
Round 5: TIEs continue to try and block Aphra in place, she’s had enough and 3 banks out but with 1 hull left there’s nothing realistically to be done to stay on the table. Lapin, Bossk and the Obsidian trap Vult who takes damage. Leema and Maarek face check each other.
Leema concedes half points stuck in the range of a compulsary concussion bomb, and between a mediocre roll from Maarek is down to half. Maarek takes a bloody nose but concedes no points.
Vult chooses to shoot Bossk instead of Aphra, understandably leaving that to the rest of his list. He kills Bossk, I trigger Deadmans switch which unfortunately kills Aphra but also gets me to half points on Vult. Arliz manages to crush an Obsidian.
Final score: 12-16
Return to base for debriefing and cocktails…
Debrief
Committing Aphra to the alley down the centre to give N’Dru space was a mistake, and the YV-666 should have banked early to the left instead to support. There was the question of when to drop Bossk as it could have been earlier to flank Maarek and Vult and let N’Dru escape and possibly dock again escaping that fate.
Genius on Arliz works great for one round but the mandatory bomb drop needs to be considered. Arguably this actually might have worked better with something like seismic charges to clear the obstacle that Feroph was hiding behind from both Y’s. So there’s some tinkering around the edges. Overall a bit displeased with my performance - I should know that a Defender can always K-Turn - and N’Dru could have blocked but I took that note from Travis to heart and so there she went.
I’ll probably run something like this again but CanCon Grand Championship is looming, so perhaps I should actually practice with my actual list? No…I think not…
Cheers,
- Barry